Rupee loss widens by 30 paise to 69.80 against US dollar

The Indian rupee Friday fell by another 30 paise to close at 69.80 against the US currency as strengthening greenback and rising crude oil prices kept investors cautious.

Besides, weak Asian currencies and an intense sell-off in domestic equities also put pressure on the domestic currency.

On weekly basis, the rupee saw a fall of 34 paise.

At the interbank foreign exchange (forex) market, the domestic currency opened higher at 69.55 per dollar, but lost ground during the day and fell to 69.85. The rupee finally settled at 69.80, down 30 paise over its previous close.

The rupee had settled at 69.50 against the US dollar Thursday.

“The rupee weakened for a second day against US dollar, taking cues from the other Asian currencies,” said V K Sharma, Head-PCG & Capital Market Strategy, HDFC Securities.

Benchmark indices settled for the day in the negative territory. The BSE Sensex closed at 39,452.07, down by 289.29 points, or 0.73 per cent. The wider NSE Nifty tumbled 90.75 points, or 0.76 per cent, to finish at 11,823.30.

Meanwhile, Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 69.3579 and for rupee/euro at 78.3740. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 88.0207 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 64.03.